


I'll Wait for You (I Promise)

by antijosh



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: //fades out, Alternate Universe - High School, First Love, M/M, its almost 4 am so, okay this is honestly just 3k of mushy junhao bc i can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:04:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5312162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antijosh/pseuds/antijosh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Minghao doesn’t understand basic chemistry, Junhui doesn’t know how he feels about Minghao, and they need each other to figure it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Wait for You (I Promise)

**Author's Note:**

> originally for the [jamjam exchange](http://jamjamexchange.livejournal.com)! also special thanks to Kristine [coupsd](http://archiveofourown.org/users/wu_huisi/pseuds/coupsd) for the beta and [seungkwanin](http://archiveofourown.org/users/seungkwanin) for the inspiration to finally write junhao.

_Kairos(n): a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action;  the opportune and decisive moment._

**i**

“Do you think she remembers we’ve done all this already?” Junhui whispered in Mandarin, leaning slightly across the aisle so Minghao could hear him. Their math teacher was going over the same concepts for the second day in a row, and it was pretty clear that most of the class was bored out of their minds, Junhui included.

“I don’t think so,” Minghao giggled softly. “And I hope no one tells her.”

Junhui leaned back in his chair with a small smirk, and he could feel Minghao’s eyes on him as he let his head fall back with a sigh.

A few minutes must have passed until Junhui got an idea, eyes snapping open in excitement. “Want to go to Wendy’s after this?” Junhui asked Minghao, leaning across the aisle once again. “I can help you with your chemistry homework again.”

“Sure.” Minghao shrugged. “Your treat?”

“Get a job,” Junhui laughed, but a few moments later he rolled his eyes and slipped the corner of his wallet out of his pocket in an unspoken ‘yes’.

Minghao smiled, and began to tease Junhui. “If you don’t start paying attention in class, it will be me who needs to tutor you.”

“You know I don’t need to pay attention,” Junhui scoffed. Minghao just rolled his eyes and turned back to look at his almost-empty page of notes.

The rest of the class passed with silence between the two, Jun choosing to  take a nap in order to mentally prepare for his next period (Government was never his strong suit). Their next periods they had to separate, but they met up afterwards by Minghao’s locker.

Luckily for them (and every other student at their school), the fast food restaurant was within walking distance of campus. After the last bell rang, they set off together, backpacks weighing heavily on their shoulders.

They ordered chicken sandwiches, fries, and milkshakes (like they always did) and sat down in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, so as to stay fairly uninterrupted.

As soon as he opened his workbook, Minghao looked so dejected it reminded Junhui of the day when they first met. Minghao had transferred from China at the beginning of his freshman year. He was placed in the advanced math despite the language barrier, meaning he shared a class with Junhui, who was a sophomore at the time. Junhui, who had moved to the States in the 7th grade, was happy to make friends with the sad boy who seemed to know all the answers to the difficult geometry problems. They spoke Chinese when they could, because Minghao’s English wasn’t advanced enough to sustain a proper conversation.

Their friendship had always had an aspect of academic help; Junhui helped Minghao learn English and Minghao helped Junhui in math. What started as a relationship of convenience soon blossomed into a true friendship, one that lasted throughout the years (even after Minghao became near fluent and Junhui figured out how to properly use trig functions).

Which led them to where they were now, Junhui supposed. He had always been good with science, even when he took chemistry last year. So as soon as Minghao started failing tests, Junhui swept in, offering to tutor him.

“What even are atomic orbitals,” Minghao groaned, snapping Junhui out of his thoughts and back to the problem at hand: Minghao’s dismal understanding of basic concepts of chemistry. Junhui laughed and held out a fry, which Minghao ate straight from his fingers (Junhui would have been lying if he said it didn’t make his heart skip a little).

“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you.”

“You’re a lifesaver, you know that right?” Minghao praised Junhui, which made the elder laugh again.

“Trust me, I know. Now get out your workbook so we can do some of these problems.”

Junhui helped Minghao with chemistry for the next hour or so, until Minghao was mentally exhausted and declared he’d rather eat everything in the restaurant than continue doing chemistry. Junhui laughed at that and told Minghao he would probably enjoy eating that much, so that wasn’t a good comparison. Minghao just shoved him gently out the door and told Junhui he’d see him tomorrow.

**ii**

Minghao never entered Junhui’s house silently anymore. Junhui remembered back when Minghao first came over, how he was timid and shy and didn’t make a sound before he was prompted to. Now, however, he was much different.

“I’m here!” Minghao called, and from his room Junhui could hear the heavy shut of the front door.

“Junhui’s upstairs,” his mom said before Junhui could yell down to Minghao with his location. “Are you staying for dinner?” she asked.

“If that’s okay,” Minghao replied.

Junhui knew she patted Minghao’s cheek as she hummed an “of course.”

He set his homework aside when he heard Minghao bounding up the stairs, and scooted over to make room for Minghao to sit next to him on his bed.

“I’m exhausted,” Minghao sighed as soon as he was in the room. His backpack hit the floor with a thump and he flopped down on the bed next to Junhui, throwing his arm over his eyes.

“What’s wrong now?” Junhui laughed, jostling Minghao’s shoulder playfully.

“My parents won’t let me dance in the school showcase if my grades don’t improve,” Minghao said. That’s right, Junhui remembered, the school’s talent showcase was coming up. Normally he would have participated, but this year he was feeling a bit too distracted. “So,” Minghao continued. “I stayed after school to get tutoring and extra credit and now I feel, like, totally annihilated.”

“If you were that tired you wouldn’t have chosen the word ‘annihilated’,” Junhui quipped. Minghao picked his arm up off his face so he could glare at Junhui and give him his classic stone-cold stank face.

Huh, Junhui thought. Even like that he’s cute. Lately, Junhui had caught himself thinking a lot of thoughts like these. They weren’t necessarily bad ones, but just thoughts that he supposed normal best friends wouldn’t have about each other. Normal best friends didn’t notice how cute the other was when he chewed on his lip in concentration, or when he fell asleep on the bus, head bobbing a little every time the road became bumpy.

Minghao groaned loudly, and Junhui cursed at himself because he still found it cute.

“What’s wrong now?” Junhui asked, pushing his other thoughts away for now; those could be dealt with later, when Minghao was long gone from Junhui’s room.

“Even if I do get to dance in the showcase, I don’t know what to do,” Minghao complained. “I don’t have any good ideas for choreography. Unless…” he trailed off.

“Unless what?” Junhui asked, but he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know.

“Unless you dance with me.” Minghao was grinning, widening his eyes as he looked up at Junhui; it was the face he used when he wanted something.

“No,” Junhui responded immediately.

“Why not?” Minghao pouted, sitting up so he could face Junhui. “It would be fun!”

“I have too much to do, I don’t need to worry about dancing on top of all of it,” Junhui argued.

“You’re a senior, aren’t you supposed to be excited for this stuff?” Minghao whined, flopping back down so he was staring at Junhui’s ceiling.

“I just have a lot going on,” Junhui answered. Part of him wanted to tell Minghao that he was distracted, that Minghao was the one distracting him, but he refrained. Now wasn’t the time, he reasoned. When it would be, Junhui had no idea.

**iii**

The annual school showcase was a pretty big deal to a good portion of the student body. It was a chance for them to flaunt their various talents, and sometimes talent scouts and recruiters for various performing arts schools even showed up. This was especially important to the juniors and seniors, who needed a little push to get into the top performance schools.

Just like he told Minghao, Junhui wasn’t performing this year. Upon the urging of Soonyoung, the dance club president, he agreed to be a stagehand--which meant that on the day of the showcase, he stayed after school with the rest of the stagehands and the performers (including Minghao).

The performers rehearsed as everyone else helped set up the auditorium, but Junhui couldn’t focus on the positioning of the metal folding chairs he was holding when Minghao walked onstage.

Junhui watched Minghao in awe (then again, when was he not in awe at Minghao?). He knew Minghao had been practicing a lot, and that was one of the reasons why he struggled to keep his grades up, but now Junhui was seeing the results. Minghao had improved immensely since the last time Junhui saw him dance. Not only were his movements more fluid and precise, but he had also clearly worked on theory too. In his routine he had managed to seamlessly blend different styles to create a beautiful performance. Junhui caught a few small blips, as was to be expected, but he was immensely proud of Minghao nonetheless.

He was the first of those present to applaud and whoop after Minghao rehearsed, and Minghao grinned as he jumped down from the stage and ran over to Junhui.

“You should have danced with me! We would have made a good team,” he teased, shoving at Junhui’s shoulder.

“Maybe one day,” Junhui laughed. “Want to get pizza after this?”

***

The showcase was held that next evening, and of course Junhui gave Minghao a ride there. He could tell Minghao was nervous, through the little things. Minghao bounced his leg, gnawed on his lip and stared out the window, all while keeping quiet (something that rarely ever happened between them).

“You’re going to do amazing,” Junhui reassured him quietly as they pulled into the school parking lot.

“Are you sure?” Minghao’s voice was soft, and he couldn’t look Junhui in the eyes. “It’s my first time dancing alone in front of an audience like this Jun, what if I fuck it up?”

“You’re not going to fuck it up,” Junhui replied, and he was confident. “I saw you rehearse, remember? Dance just like that, and everyone is going to love you.”

Minghao didn’t say anything else but he nodded, and Junhui just had to hope that his words got through.

Junhui didn’t see much of Minghao when they got in; Minghao went backstage to prepare while Junhui helped sell and collect tickets at the door. Just as they were shutting the doors for the showcase to begin, Junhui managed to slip in. He hovered in the back corner, waiting for Minghao’s performance.

Minghao was one of the last performers, but in Junhui’s opinion he was worth the wait. He did even better that time than he had during rehearsal, and somehow Junhui knew he had probably been up all night, practicing his routine until it was perfect. It paid off though--Junhui saw talent scouts in the front row whispering to each other, which was almost always a good thing.

Right after the show ended, Junhui rushed backstage, and he almost ran directly into the person he was looking for: Minghao. He was sweaty but beaming, and Junhui thought he had never looked more beautiful.

This could be his chance, Junhui thought. If he wanted to, he could tell Minghao he liked him right now. He opened his mouth, but the words warped themselves into something different.

“I really liked your performance! You did even better than your rehearsal,” is what came out instead, and Junhui cringed at how over-excited he sounded. Luckily, Minghao didn’t seem to notice.

“Thanks!” he beamed, shaking his head to try and get some of the confetti Soonyoung had dumped on him out of his golden poodle curls that Junhui had teased him so much for.

They were interrupted by Soonyoung, who threw his arms around their shoulders and dragged them off for a group picture. After that, Junhui wanted to go home, but Soonyoung and Minghao wheedled and whined until he agreed to go out for food with them (as if he could say no if Minghao asked anything of him).

When he dropped Minghao off at home, even later into the night, Junhui grabbed the younger’s wrist before he could open the car door.

“You did great tonight,” he said. Minghao grinned, a beautiful, familiar thing to Junhui, and then he was gone, getting out of of the car and walking up to his front door. Junhui waited to make sure Minghao got in safely, before he drove away with a sigh.

When Junhui was laying in his bed later that night, he tried to comfort himself by repeating over and over again that it just hadn’t been the right time. One day he would tell Minghao how he felt about him, but he reasoned it just wasn’t supposed to be today.

**iv**

Graduation felt like a whirlwind to Junhui. The weeks leading up to it were full of congratulatory cards, rehearsals for everything, and every adult in his life making sure they knew where he wanted to go to college (they tried to not look that disappointed when he said he wasn’t going to a big-name school, but Junhui noticed anyway). To Junhui, the only thing,or person rather, in his life that felt steady to him was Minghao.

He never really talked about graduation with Minghao--mostly because they had other, more interesting things to talk about (like chemistry or pre calculus or which ninja turtle could beat Iron Man in a fight)--but also because Junhui wasn’t quite sure how Minghao felt about him graduating, and he was too afraid to ask. He knew Minghao had other friends in his own grade and below him, but he was a little proud of how he was, and had been since the start of Minghao’s freshman year, Minghao’s best friend.

When it was finally brought up, it was two weeks before the graduation and Junhui's mom had just interrupted them studying to ask if Minghao was coming to Junhui's graduation party that weekend.

"You're having a party?" Minghao asked, and Junhui nodded awkwardly.

"Of course you're invited," he said quickly. "I just didn't get a chance to really talk to people about it yet."

“Obviously I’m coming,” Minghao smiled, shoving at Junhui’s shoulder playfully. Junhui couldn’t shake the feeling that Minghao was faking that smile. He ignored it as best he could, and instead invited Minghao to come early to help him set up for the party. Minghao agreed almost too quickly.

Junhui supposed his party was fun. All of his friends attended, and they spent hours eating, joking, and playing silly games with each other while they still could. Junhui kept checking up on Minghao the whole time, shooting him quick glances or checking who he was hanging out with when he wasn’t with Junhui. Unsurprisingly, he spent his time away from Junhui with Mingyu, Seokmin, Seungkwan and Hansol, which made Junhui worry less. He trusted those four to be good friends to Minghao after he moved away, and to keep him company if he missed Junhui. Junhui kind of hoped Minghao would miss him.

After the party had died down and the rest of the guests were heading home, Junhui and Minghao snagged a bottle of Junhui’s parent’s champagne and climbed out Junhui’s bedroom window on to the roof.

They sat in silence at first, simply passing the bottle between them and taking slow sips. Junhui relished the initial slight burn of the champagne, which felt warm considering the air around them was crisp and cool.

Minghao was the one who finally broke the silence. “Will you miss this?”

“What do you mean?” Junhui replied, glancing over at Minghao.

“Will you miss being here? Being with me?” Minghao didn’t look at Junhui, and Junhui knew it was because Minghao didn’t want him to read his face; Junhui did so anyway. Minghao’s lips were pursed in a tight line, and Junhui wasn’t quite sure, but he thought he saw the glint of a tear forming along Minghao’s waterline.

“Of course I’ll miss you Ming.” Junhui kept his voice low and steady as he tried to keep his mind from racing off to the possibility of his friendship with Minghao ceasing to exist after he moved away.

“I’ll miss you too. Promise you won’t find a new best friend at college, okay?”

“Nobody could ever replace you,” Junhui said. He meant it; nobody could ever be the friend that Minghao was to him. On impulse, he blurted out: “You’re too special to me.”

Minghao didn’t respond so they sat in silence for a few moments. Junhui’s belly felt warm and fuzzy and his throat still tingled slightly from the champagne. He looked over at Minghao, who had his knees pulled up to his chest and was resting his chin on them. Minghao looked small and vulnerable, but undeniably beautiful. At that moment, he got the compulsion to confess to Minghao. Now was the time, he thought. He had to tell him now.

“I like you,” Junhui said softly. The words slipped easily from his mouth; there was nothing stopping his tongue now, nothing telling him that the time wasn’t right.

“What?” Minghao asked, raising his head to look at Junhui.

“I like you Minghao. I like you a lot, actually.”

Minghao was silent for a few moments, but when he spoke, his voice was soft and steady. “I like you too.”

When Junhui looked down at Minghao, their faces were mere inches apart. Junhui slowly moved closer, emboldened when Minghao didn’t flinch or pull away. Finally, he was kissing Minghao, and he felt a weight lift from his heart.

Minghao’s lips were soft and tasted a little like the frosting from Junhui’s graduation cake and the fruity champagne but also something else that was distinctly Minghao. The air around them had gotten cold and it was too dark to see anything properly but Junhui knew that this was the right time; he couldn’t have waited any longer.

 


End file.
